St. Wenceslaus, king & martyr 

St. Lorenzo Ruiz of Manila, martyr & Companions, martyrs

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Zechariah 8:20-23

 Yahweh, the God of hosts speaks,

“People will come from other nations, people from great cities. The inhabitants of one town will talk with those of another and say: ‘Come, let us go and implore the favor of Yahweh, and I, too, will seek Yah­weh.’ Many great peo­ples and powerful nations will come seeking Yahweh, God of hosts, in Jerusalem and pray to him.”

 Yahweh, the God of hosts assures you, “In those days ten men of different languages spoken in various lands, will take hold of a Jew by the hem of his garment and say: We, too, want to go with you for we have heard that God is with you.”

 

Ps 87:1b-3, 4-5, 6-7

God is with us.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊  

Luke 9:51-56

 As the time drew near when Jesus would be taken up to heaven, he made up his mind to go to Jerusalem. He had sent ahead of him some messengers who entered a Samaritan village to prepare a lodging for him.

 But the people would not receive him because he was on his way to Jerusalem. Seeing this, James and John, his disciples said, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to reduce them to ashes?” Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village.

 

Gospel Reflection：

The time for Jesus’ glorification draws near. His Passion and Death are but doorways He has to enter reclaim what is His since the beginning. So He has to go to Jerusalem.

That is where the end and a new beginning will happen. But He has to wade through the politics of His time. The Samaritans would not accept Him since He is going to Jerusalem.

Let us remember that during the split of the Kingdom of David into the North and South Kingdom, there is enmity between the two. Northern Kingdom of Judah has Jerusalem as capital during the time of Jesus, and the Southern Kingdom of Israel at that time has Samaria as its capital.

This leads the hot headed disciples James and John to propose annihilation of the city fire and brimstone. But Jesus has no time for such petty dispute. He has His eyes set firmly on the drama that will unfold in Jerusalem. He will not be deterred.